St. Louis Post-Dispatch
December 27, 1907

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és ¥ « ¥ | , : i « - * o ' ig EY ae Ot oe a -_ Owners of j | : | ; é ‘aid months when the . ——

Ai, Ap Se Property in Not Allowed a Streets to Be Improved Voice in Decid- ing on Material to Be Used.

EE Continued From Page 1.

On several occasions Mayor Wells ha» shown a decided preference for bitu- lithic paving, and Harbor and Wharf Commissioner Whyte is regarded as the champion in the Board of Public Im- provements of this material. In numer- ous instances the Board of Public Im- provements has forced pitulithic paving on the people when they petitioned for a street of another material. Most of ‘the recently reconstructed streets on which the city owns property have Yeen made with bituminous macadam, and that material has been specified in or- dinances now pending for the improve- ment of streets on which the city has property. The records at the City Hall show that in 1904, the first year that bitu- was introduced in any 321.26 worth of r and laid in amount of $534 was $301, More Plums in Sight. For the fiscal year of 1907-08 contracts have been let for 5.77 miles of bitulithic paving. In 1906-07 bitulithic paving cost approximately $93,470 a mile. Estimating that the paving which has been laid re- cently, F is now being laid, will cost the same per mile, the Granite Bitumi!- nous Paving Co. will get $538,221.90 for its work this year. The board has ad- vertised public hearings for Jan. 7, 190%, on the improvement and reconstruction of 3% streets, specifying that the materi- als from whic selections will be made e vitrified brick, bitulithic and asphalt. 80 es of vitri- of nite + 4 29. 83 shiles 2.50 miles of creosoted wood block pav- ing. “Fe asphalt ving contractors have in the field for many years. While Asphalt Co. has been large- 1 | im the asphalt paving, there have been several other contrac- ors who laid pavings of that material. In less than five years the Granite Hi- tuminous Paving Co., without competi- tion, has laid three-fifths as much pav- as all of the asphalt contractorr in nearly twenty years. In the brick work about thirty contractors mpete, but practically all of the brick 8 manufactured by one company. The | cted that e . com ic paving brick, bitulithic and asphalt. Since G Bituminous Paving Co. entered the local field it has made @ remarkable record. The paving had never been thoroughly tested in an other large city w lic Improv ts

ts o @nd in some of the smaller New igliand eities before it in ere. It is asserted by other contrac- tors that bituminous macadam had not down ‘in oy 4 city more than 198 gs contracts were let nec ve wk here by the Sou Oo, of Nashville and the Kansas Cc f Kansas Oty. he | e Bituminous The bids are all made by subsidiary corpora eontrolled by the same people. The bids of the out- de peo ag es ose of t neve contract her The Gra uminous Pav

to do ness in Missouri Jan. 16, 1908. It is capitalized for $100,000, and porerers are albert C. Newton, Mass. ; of Utica, N. Y.; West Newton, Mass.; Clarence A. Kenyon, f | Kenyon its president of the arg ae and _— is eecretary and Utility Not Demonstrated, The Warren brothers are the owners arren bituminous Contractors streets with other when the War- ' fleld hose _— rand avenue to 4 735. troduced, Park avenue, from Mississippi av- enue to Grand avenue, was recon- structed with bituminous macadam paving over the protests of 85 A nad cemt of the property owners. he owners of property in the special tax district affected by the improvement of Park pvenie were paying for the improvement of Jefferson, Ohio, Car- dinal, California, Virginia, Theresa, Grand and Montrose avenues at the time the Board of Public Improve- ments took up the matter of remak- ing the street. Park avenue was coves with Telford, and the property wners were opposed to the improve- ment at that time. They said the street was in good condition, and that they were en struggling along un- der special tax burdens to pay for other streets. They asked that the improvement be postponed for a year, but the d of Public Improvements aid no attention to their requests. hen the people learned that the street would be improved against their wishes they petitioned for a brick street. St. evin’s Catholic Churth took an active part in the fight. mene meetings were held to rotest against bituminous macadam. he Board of Public Improvements selected this material, and sent the ordinance to the Municipal Assembly. “At the request of St. Kevin's Church I represented the people of the parish in asking for a brick street,” said City Register Patrick J. Reagan. “We had a petition of 8 per cent of the property owners for brick, but the influence for bituminous macadam in the Board of Public Improvements was too strong to overcome. A committee appointed by citizens called on Fred Wiedmer, former chairman of the Committee on Public Improvements in the House of Dele- gates, to protest ageinst anything but a brick street’ Wiedmer turned them down without a hearing and the erdi- nance was passed. I found the game too strong for me.” ; The committee that waited on Wied- mer was composed of Rudolph Hecde, an undertaker, Theodore aickel ames Fogerty. “Wiedmer told us we were going to get a bituminous macadam street,”’ said Heede, “and that it was useless to ask for brick. He would not listen to us. It was not & minutes after he made this statement that he called the Vill out of the committee and passed it. This was one of the coldest deals I ever got as the representative of a body of citizens who were trying to protect their own in- terests. There seemed to be some pow- erful inflyence for oituminous macadam both in the Board of Public Improve- ments and the House of Delegates. I don’t know what it was.” The present Huuse of Delegates has 1 but two bituminons niacadan: Dills. One of these provides for the paving of Arsenal street, between Spring avenue and Morganford road. It is esti- mated that this work will «ost $63,370, of which the city, 6n account of the Tower ffvove Park property fronting on this part of the street, will have to pay $33,- $60. The other bill provides for the im- provement of King's Highway from G:4 Manchester to Hager roads, at a cost of $53,400. Ag the city owns property on King’s Highway it will have to pay $5007 as its share of the cost of this im- provement, when it is made. The bitulithic people seem to have been favored by the Board of Public Improvements when streets are to be made on which gity property fronts. The nine bituminous macadam bills, now held up, will cost property owners, ac- cording to the estimate of the Board of Public Improvements, $183,159. The im- provement of Minerva avenue from Ar- lington to Hodiamont, will cost $62,924. The reconstruction of the street was au- thorized on the board’s motion, and the board also selected the material for the paving. Bitulithic paving costs 15 cents a square yard more than asphalt. It is not considered by the Street Department su- perior in any respect to asphalt. The streets here have not worn as well as the asphalt streets. The first year the bitulithic people entereg@ the field the Board of Public Improvements awarded contracts amounting to $670,088.80 for as- phalt. For the fiscal year ending April, 1907, the asphalt contracts amounted to $183,166.70. Asphalt paving is now laid for $2 a square yard. Bitulithic paving | costs $2.15 & square yard. The second year the bitulithic people were in the field the contracts for asphalt dropped down to $247,470.95, but in 1906 they ran up to $445,457.78. The contracts for brick streets have not shown a very great change. In 1904 the brick contracts amounted to $696,587.63; in 1905, to $686, - 185.43; in 1906, to $766,663.21, and in 1907, to $712,361.82. Bricks Are Cheapest. Brick is the cheapest paving now in Juse in St. Louis. It costs $1.80 a square yard. On account of its cheapness, dura- bility and the energy with which the brick people look after municipal af- | fairs, it is petitioned for by many people alliliving on streets Httle used fer traffic or driving. During the past year 18 con- vier Fe me Sigazae ETES 4 = 2 # . - FRIDAY—87, LOUIS POST

: . * ae a. nites She > ; z “ ' i eo 5 as et * : Me : » Sai Cats % Z $ . % 48 bs § ¢ a8 4 fh . ¥ a - ) ek : : f : petition is contained in the following ; The asphalt.

Water Commissioner Adkins and President O'Reilly were the members of the committee who approved the specifications reducing the time of the Maintenance guarantee. Contractors laying wood block pay- img are still required to give a 10 years’ guarantee and a nine years’ guarantee on granite blocks. _ Contractors say that the reduction of the guarantee period does not enable them to make a street any cheaper. Under the new order of things the city takes the streets off of the hands of the contractors in five years and then maintains them at public expense. The contractors are required to give bonds to the city for the faithful performance of all contracts. Bonds are given to the full amount of all work costing $5000 or less, and for 2 per cent of con- tracts in excess of that amount. The contractors’ bonds are signed by different bonding companies. n New York, where the Barber Asphalt Co. recently refused to abide by its main- tenance guarantee, suits are said to be in progress to test the legality of these bonds. Some contractors say that the bonds are undoubtedly worthless in cases where gas pipes have been laid under the pavement, or where paving has been damaged by being torn up for the purposes of arin other maina. The question of the legality of the bonds has never been raised here. When a street is in need of repairs the Street Department notifies the contract- or. If the work is not done promptly the city again sends notice to the con- tractor, and at the same time notifies the bondsman. Street Commissioner Travilla said the Board of Public Improvements thought five years was long enough to require a contractor to guarantee an asphalt, bitulithic or brick street. The ten- dency of the board, he said, was to pay more attention to the first construction of the street and less to the matter of having it kept in repair by the con- tractor. COUGHS..-COLDS paceety resurfaced many times, al- hough it has been down less than four years. The maintenance guarantee this street runs seven years. The con- tractors have had to spend many thousands of doilars to keep it in re- pair. The traffic on Chestnut street has been unusually heavy since the smooth pavement was laid. Marcus avenue, which was improved with bi- tuminous macadam in 1904, has been algo resurfaced by the contractors. Twelfth street, where Chestnut cross- es it, is paved with asphalt laid eight years ago. | The contractor who put the paving down on Pwelfth street says that he has not had to spend any mioney to keep it in repair at the intersection ef Chestnut street, althongh all the Chestnut street traffic passes over it. He says the test of the wearing qual- ities of the two paving materials, in this instance shows that asphalt is much superior to bituminous macad- am for paving. Street Commissioner Travilla says that the wearing qualities of the two kinds of streets are practically the same, and that neither bituminous macadam nor asphalt ig fit for a street where traffic is heavy. Bids a Farce. Abstracts of lettings for street im- provements by the Board of Public Im- provements disclose the farce of compe- tition In the bituminous macadam bids. Contractors bid on each of the different items in the .construction of a. street. Abstracts of recent bidg show the fol- lowing result? an

Marginal Curbing.

Granite Bit. Pav. Co. Kan. Bitulithic Co.. ; South. Bitulithie Co.|55c} 1.00/35c} 2.25] 95 When the bids on the different itemn are totaled it in found invaria- bly that the Granite Bituminous Pav- ing Co. is the ecesafu] bidder. The bids of the othe? companies are uni- formly from 25 te 50 cents a square yard higher than that of the Granite Bituminous Paving Co. The Board of Public Improvements has been tol- ——— this farce for nearly five years, It is charged, too, that the brick and asphalt combinations have a good idea who is going to get the con- tracts before the bids are opened, but there are all of the forms of bona fide competition in the letting of these contracts. No Local Interests. D. C. Buntin, secretary of the Granite Bituminous Paving Co., characterized as ridiculous the reports that city officials ure interested in the company. “No city official has any stock in this company,’’ said Mr. Buntin. “This talk has been going on for a long time. I have never taken the trouile to deny it because it was so profoundly absurd. No legislative agent has ever approached us with a proposition to procure the passage of our bills. Coyne, who was convicted of perjury, didn't even do us the courtesy to visit us. So far as T am concerned the House of Delegates can either pags the bills or let them alone. I am’ not especially anxious to stay in the paving business in St. Louis. In fact I would like to find a man who wants to buy a good paving ;-lant: “St. Louis is getting its paving cheaper than any other city. I would like to get into a city where prices are higher. 1 think the people will have to admit that it is a good thing to have competition in smooth surface paving. While we do not compete on materials with the as- phalt people we do compete in smooth paving. This competition keeps the price down. The Warrens are operating throughout the country, “specially in the South and Southwest, and they are getting better prices everywhere than We are here. The Barber Asphalt Co. has been spending more money fighting the Warrens than it has in improving its workmanship. The corporation of which the Barber Asphalt Co. is a part was recently fined $6,000,000 In Venezuela and its charters were forfeited and much of its property confiscated by the govern- ment. While the asphalt people were getting into trouble we have been going ahead with our business and taking con- tracts away from them everywhere. “On the streets where we got our best contracts the people asked for bit- uminous macadam. I know nothing c}$0 98 |30c/$2. 15131. wu 1,10'40e} 2.85) 1.00

matters.”’ Prometion Work. In some quarterg the success of the Granite Bituminous Paving Co. in get- ting contracts is attributed to Charles bringing the Board of Public Improve. ments to his way of thinking. His bills ere usually passed without delay by

| the St. Louis field. Their sucess in of |. about the Lexington and Park avenue have shown himself a great diplomat in |. ott. thelr forces about the time they started |, under such auspicious circumstances in setting contracts here, under the con- ditions that prevailed at the start, has led generally to the belief that powerful local interests are friendly to the com- pany, although not one St. Louie man appears among the ineorporators. It has been the practice of the Roara of Public Improvements tn former ex ses to make exhaustive tests of paving ma- terials in St. Louls, sometimes reouirin: contractorr to put down a block for test

~ THEIR VIEWS ON PAVING asked by a Post-Dispatch reporter Fri- day why he had favored the use of bitulithic -remon- stranees, as in the Park avenue case, pavement over

purposes, but nothing of the kind was —— ee See ee re « o> acheamepiepatibatied oe ee | , aa

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7 — Yesterday and today, all expectation. response overwhelming, Women’s Garments Misses’ Garments Women’s and Children’s _ Millinery Boys’ and Youths’ Clothing On Second Floor 4 25¢ Juvenile Boxes, 15e $5.00 Boxes for $2.50 $8.00 Boxes for $4.00 $4.00 Cabinets at $2.25, $2.50 and $2.75. $3.50 Cabinets for_ $1.75. ries will be sold at half price. closed out at, the dozen, 10e. Waists, Sacques, ete. Thel eount of 25 Dresses, Smal] Furs. Everything in this department, in- ‘cluding all Ts#mmings. Hats great- ly reduced previous to, now offered at Suits, Overcoats, Raincoats, Shirts, Sweaters, Pyjamas, Hats, Caps, Toques—in short, this entire stock is laid before you at : Novelty Silk ‘Petticoats,. the rich imported models; previously re- duced and, now submitted to a final reduction that brings them to 4 — VUE 00

Rich Imported Gowns and Wraps, Imported Tailored Suits, Coats, House. Dresses, Furs, Gowns and Wra Robes,

Cabinets and Boxes of Fine Stationery, » a little soiled, but greatly*reduced in price. | H OLIDAY business left its aftermath of fine Cab- inets of high-class Stationery that were just a little bit soiled or a little bit damaged. These will now be cleaned out, previous to December 31st, at prices that barely cover the value of the paper they contain. In each instance the paper and envelopes are perfect. One $10.50-Cabinet for One $10.50 Cabinet. for $4.75 Cabinets for $2.95 $2.00 Cabinets for 95¢e And many others equally reduced. $2.50 $3.50 Between now and December 31st all ‘‘Nineteen-Eight’’ Dia- Tallies that have sold at 35c, 25¢ and 15¢ the dozen will be

closing: time Saturday. trade. All made coat style. All have attached cuffs. rey Ag from 14 to 17. $2.50 Shirts. Sale price, The patterns are the large, styles that men of individuality Men’s Fashionable $2:50 Shirts, $1.50 ‘| HEY must go.before December 31st, but let one hundred and fifty men make the acquaintance of the pat- terns tomorrow, and the entire quantity will be gone by The Shirts were made to our express order from selected 1908 Spring Shirtings, but were a trifle ‘late in arriving for the great bulk of the holiday_ They are all colored bosom Shirts. Some have embroidered pique bosoms. ‘$150 wear.

had a better opportunity to

were reduced pre- vious ‘to this sale, which, with the present dis- per cent, brings the selling figure to practically. half the original value. , Suits, Coats, House Dresses, Party Skirts, Waists, this sale, nobby, up-to-the-minute | > ¢. like to "| You Tenth, Olive and Locust Streets Our 25 Per Cent Discount cad Sale Should Reach Its. _ Greatest Volume Saturday Women’s, Misses’ and Children’s Ready-to-Wear All Millinery and Millinery Supplies — Boys’ and Youths’ Clothing and Furnishings (“ONSIDE RING that this'sale follows so closely upon the heels } of holiday shopping, selling has been of the most enthusiastic description. | The 25 per cent discount is offered on all merchandise on the Third Floor, an extends to the Second, taking in all Imported and Novelty Silk from the earliest business hour, the response It is important to keep before you the splendid fact that the garments 6: in this sale are new—not the accumulation of past’ seasons. Twenty cent is an exceptional discount, but when presented on the season’s most refined, most exclusive styles in dress, the Sale ae tt ¢ ? » 2 eh * - aeons ; a becomes an Event and : One-fourth off marked prices One-fourth off marked prices — One-fourth off mS One-fourth off marked prices Nearly half sotual value Clearing away all the . soiled and rumpled Handker- chiefs—women’s, men’s and children’s—Saturday. | Re Even if you got boxes of 4 x cannot afford to miss the op- increase your § a kerchiefs, 3 One group includes A great heap of Men’s All | Pure Linen Tey group you will ; odd initials; Piva a fe price, each, 5 Group three i 2 Pa v3 - eat

AMPLE Pocket Knives—First Floor—Near | out pric ys ples have been sold, but thousands yet remain and you never | (e for half to one-third its valué. ies | . *» 4 , r ~~ * t oe. 4 Ar x * i bo W ‘ , Wet { i lee . «Suse * - f mot , bine We eed * > Rae a 2 i. , TE OL attain Mee Ps aes ; os a k is ae Ne ae Par; eS we x tae $ Vig BG See ee ; hom ag ek . a pias kid ge Th RS oS Se eo ea Oe As, ee eR! pas ee” RS Se ae IONE OG ho IM pee pe See 7) i . PORE RERE OP PELE Ip DPS MERE 2 PEON RN GPRD EEE, RRP oe ae sf tk oes ™ oii sana Bins sae Ree ee ee ee oe i yD ARR Oe. Sth hos Se Wa uae, © L e ea NaS, Vt MR ete was re Og St et! ven) Be? eee - % ; ; eae wl ee. Py Pac? ye Maa eRe A tay 2 of £: et, a. 1, ala Buiter: a coaee Oy ner SOS i a) oo TERR er pe > POON ae Ss RT a, ; pia My Ye ye i ak & si ; f Ms) : SSX: : 7 - a “4 2 + Le f 2 oon ey : j oe ae as $f . es q V Ma Handkerchiefs as gifts, you 4 ; ‘ portunity these prety, | 9 ' : kerchiefs that were 15¢, in |] § all styles, hemstitched, ini- | 7 tialed, embroidered ; these are | § j all pure linen Handkerchiefs; {|} > clearing-out price, each, 10¢ |f | with quarter and half inch |} } hemstitched hems; in this jf | ; & + ¢ “a ‘ ’ A), a ; 4 ae : aT - ae OF : r ack RS - . o pa rt ee ¢ bs

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